Analysis & Opinion

Dec 21 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions
and disposals were reported by 2100 GMT on Friday:

** U.S. conglomerate General Electric Co has agreed
to buy the aviation business of Italy's Avio for $4.3 billion,
in a sign of confidence about the country's underlying strength
despite its deep recession.

** Aviva, Britain's No. 2 insurer, has agreed to sell
its U.S. business for $1.8 billion, far less than it paid for it
and the biggest disposal so far in a reorganisation aimed at
boosting its underperforming share price.

The company is being bought by Athene Holding, a specialist
life insurer majority-owned by U.S. private equity company
Apollo, Aviva said on Friday.

** Industrial machinery maker Gardner Denver Inc has
ended talks with SPX Corp and has invited the private
equity firms that made offers for the company to re-engage in a
sale process, a source familiar with the matter said on
Friday.

** Casino operator Pinnacle Entertainment Inc will
acquire Ameristar Casinos Inc for about $869 million to
expand mainly in the U.S. Midwest and South, sending Pinnacle's
shares to their highest in more than three years.

** Expedia Inc said on Friday it would acquire a
61.6 percent equity stake in trivago, a German travel search
engine that focuses on hotels, for roughly $632 million in cash
and common stock, a move that will expand Expedia's worldwide
reach.

** Russian state industrial conglomerate Russian
Technologies said on Friday it plans to dispose of its telecoms
assets, including an indirect stake in Russia's No.2 mobile
phone operator MegaFon, seen as non-core for the
company.

** Cogeco Cable Inc, the main unit of media and
telecom company Cogeco Inc, said it would buy PEER 1
Network Enterprises Inc for about C$526 million ($532
million) to expand its cloud computing and data hosting
services.

** U.S. diversified manufacturer Crane Co said it
will buy MEI Conlux Holdings and its Japanese affiliate for
about $820 million from private equity firms Bain Capital and
Advantage Partners to widen its base in making machines that can
handle money through automated mechanisms.

** Dutch dredger Boskalis has raised its cash offer for
Dockwise to 733 million euros ($970 million) and said
it owned or had secured a total of 83.5 percent of the Dutch
maritime transport group in the takeover.

** Private equity investor EQT said it would buy bulk liquid
storage provider Westway Group Inc for about $419
million, a year after the company spurned a similar buyout bid.

** Germany's No.2 energy group RWE has sold its
57.5 percent stake in regional utility KEVAG for about 220
million euros ($291 million), it said.

** Italian lender UBI Banca has finalised the sale
of its UBI Insurance Broker unit in a deal that will generate a
capital gain of 8 million euros ($11 million) in the fourth
quarter, the company said on Friday.

** Shares in SMA Solar, Germany's top solar
company, rose on Friday after an acquisition gave it access to
China, seen as overtaking Germany next year as the world's No.1
solar market.

** Conwert Immobilien is to buy 60 percent of
German residential property group Kommunale Wohnen
from shareholders, boosting the Austrian company's German
portfolio by two thirds.

** German steel distributor Kloeckner & Co sold a
big chunk of its operations in Eastern Europe as it steps up a
wider restructuring programme in the face of a weak outlook.

** Austria's competition authority said it would not appeal
against Telekom Austria's acquisition of Orange's
budget mobile brand Yesss, clearing the way for a wider
consolidation of the country's telecom market.

** Britain's competition regulator has blocked the proposed
acquisition by Akzo Nobel NV of Metlac Holding, ruling
it would substantially reduce competition in the supply of metal
packaging coatings for beer and beverage cans in the UK.

** Japan's Olympus Corp and Sony Corp said
that a planned merger of the two firms' medical business will
take longer than expected due to delays in obtaining regulatory
approval abroad.

** Spanish banks Unicaja and CEISS said in a statement on
Friday they had agreed to call off a planned merger for now.

** Oil giant ConocoPhillips will sell its Nigerian
businesses to Oando Energy Resources Inc for about
$1.79 billion, the companies said on Thursday.

** Mohawk Industries Inc, a U.S. ceramic tile maker,
said on Thursday that it will buy Italian ceramics manufacturer
Marazzi Group for about $1.5 billion to boost its position in
the United States, Russia and Europe.

** JPMorgan Chase & Co, one of the biggest card
issuers and transaction processors, said on Thursday it has
bought Silicon Valley firm Bloomspot Inc to expand its consumer
marketing programs for merchants.